Microsoft releases Windows Home Server 2011

Microsoft has officially released its new Windows Home Server 2011.

With the release to manufacturing, Windows Home Server 2011 is now slated to reach MSDN and TechNet subscribers in early April where they can download the software via their subscriptions. The latest version should also start to pop up on computers in May, according to Microsoft, which said that manufacturers have already been working with the new home operating system.

The official version of Windows Home Server 2011, codenamed Vail, comes almost a year after the beta was released and close to two months since the release candidate made its debut.

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Windows Phone 7 apps: 'Quality over quantity'

Since the launch of Windows Phone 7 operating system last year, Microsoft has been trying to catch up to Apple and Google in the mobile-apps race. And the software giant took to its blog yesterday to share its progress.

Microsofts says that there are now 11,500 applications available in its Windows Marketplace store. Out of that, 7,500 applications are paid, while 1,110 apps are generating revenue through ads, thanks to the company's Microsoft Advertising Ad Control service. On average, Microsoft says, users are downloading 12 apps each month.

The size of Microsoft's mobile marketplace still pales in comparison to Apple's App Store. According to the Apple app page on the company's Web site, there are now over 350,000 available applications to its customers. In January, Apple announced that 10 billion apps had been downloaded from its store since its launch in 2008.

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Microsoft to file antitrust complaint against Google

In a somewhat ironic twist, Microsoft said this evening that it will file a formal complaint against Google tomorrow with European antitrust regulators.

Microsoft, which itself has been the subject of several antitrust probes in the United States and abroad, argues that Google is engaging in anticompetitive behavior in search, online advertising, and smartphone software, Microsoft general counsel Brad Smith wrote in a blog explaining the action.

"Google has done much to advance its laudable mission to 'organize the world's information,' but we're concerned by their broadening pattern of conduct--including walling off access to content and data--that is aimed at stopping anyone else from creating a competitive alternative," Smith said in a statement to CNET.

Google said Microsoft's announcement was no shocker. 

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Popular Posts & Blog's Stats widgets for Blogger

It has been almost 2 months since Blogger introduced the “Stats” feature. Now they have gone a step further by introducing 2 Gadgets related to the “Stats”. Blogger has now got a “Popular Posts” Gadget and a “Blog’s Stats” Gadget.(These are currently available only on Blogger in Draft).

Popular Posts Gadget

Blogger has always lacked such a gadget. There used to be some Yahoo Pipe based widgets, which list out the most commented posts. But these were pretty slow and inefficient. Now Blogger has got this Official Popular Posts Gadget.As the name indicates, the Gadget displays a list of popular posts on your blog.  Here is a Screen Shot of the Gadget Options 

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Random Posts Widget for Blogger with Thumbnails

The Random Posts Gadget will  display a list of Random Posts(from your blog) on your Blog’s Sidebar. The Gadget has an options panel and can be configured to meet your needs. The Gadget inherits styles from your Blog. But you can override the colors if you want(this was done to support third party templates which doesn’t have the skin variables properly designed). 

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